The Dispensary

The future of the hospital, parking in town and potash are some of the hot topics affecting Whitby at the moment...but how much do you really know about them?

A survey is being launched to find out how much people really know about what is going on in Whitby.

It is being run by James Fearnley from The Dispensary and he is keen to find how much detailed knowledge people have of issues which could potentially radically change the town.

He has come up with a simple formula asking a couple of simple questions via an online document sent to The Dispensary’s 250 members, which they in turn forward on to their own contacts, before the results are published and fed back to the relevant authorities.

Mr Fearnley believes it is a more effective way of communicating with people as opposed to the ‘traditional’ methods of consultation.

He said: “It is not to start a campaign about things but I am keen to find out what people understand about different issues.

“We are planning surveys about the parking issue, potash and what to do about redundant space at the hospital.

“What do people understand about what’s happening? I don’t think many people really understand what the implications of the park and ride scheme are going to be for example.

“We are not expressing an opinion, good or bad, but people make the assumption it will make parking easier for residents and I am not sure that is the case.

“The problem with local authority consultation is they have got to do it, they set something, nobody comes and they say ‘we have consulted’. A simple model like this we could pass it to the people taking the decisions and say ‘yes’ everybody understands, you have done a good job or nobody knows, we need to think again.”